What is the viral “look between the keys” trend and why is it annoying the internet?

Posters on X and TikTok are asking their viewers to “look between” keys on their keyboard to indicate a message they are trying to get across. However, some social media users are annoyed by how viral the trend has become.

Although the “look between the keys” trend is becoming popular in April 2024 on X and TikTok, this isn’t the first time the fad has appeared on the internet. In 2021, users on the anonymous platform 4Chan began asking netizens to do the same thing.

But what does it mean to “look between the keys?” For instance, if someone were to ask you to look between “H” and “L” on your keyboard, the acronym “JK” appears, indicating that the poster was “just kidding.” The meme that is shared with the text is to help viewers figure out what they are trying to explain.

In some cases, posters even use numbers and emojis to partake in the trend. One poster on X asked their viewers to “look between 7 and 9” while posting a collage of selfies. What they were trying to indicate was that their photoshoot “ate” – meaning she looked super fashionable in her photoshoot.

However, some viewers are getting pretty annoyed by the trend circulating across social media. “‘Look between blah blah blah,’ how about you look between my pointer and index finger,” exclaimed one user on X. Another added, “The reason why the ‘look between’ joke has to die by fire, and quickly, is because it’s too high effort.”

Despite the viral “look between the keys” trend causing annoyance, that hasn’t stopped millions of posters on both X and TikTok from asking viewers to “look between” keys on their keyboards.